Rock separator



Aug. 11, i925, 15%,971

- A. ZISKA, JR

ROCK SEPARATOR Filed Sept 27, 1922' 2 Sheets-Sheei 1 INVENTOR wzw BY ya @a h h/W '4? A TTORNEYS A. ZISKA, JR

ROCK SEPARATOR Filed Sept. 27, 1922 Aug. 11, 1925.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VEN TOR A TTORNEYS Patented Auga ll, 1925,,

ADAM zrsna, in or MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, Assrenon T0 0. r, noncnss LABORA- ronrns, a conronn'rron or Wisconsin:

ROCK SEPARATOR.

Application filed September 27, 1922. Serial I la. 590,94l9,

citizen of the United States, residing at Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee, State of Wisconsin, have nvented certain new I and useful Improvements in Rock Separators; and I do hereby declare'the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same. Y This invention relates to a method and apparatus for treating wood chips or similar materials, for the purpose of separating therefrom foreign particles such as rocks, nails, bits of iron and other hard objects substantially heavier than the chips.

This invention may be understood by con sidering its use as applied to the treatment of Wood chips. Iii making products, such as wallboard, out of waste wood from. saw mills or other wood working plants, it is necessary to separate all hard foreign objects from the wood chips, due tolthe factthat if these pieces of hard material get into the ma chinery they cause breakage. Various at-' tempts have been made to separate the pieces of foreign material from thechlps, and this constitutes one of the most expensive steps in the utilization out the wood material..- Even when extraordinary precautions are taken it has been almost impossible to remove all of the pieces of foreign material.

As suggested above, the present invention is directed to the provision of a simple and effective method and apparatus for treating materials, such as Wood chips, whereby all hard foreign substances may be completely separated from the material under treatment. The improved method, as applied to the treatment or wood chips, comprises passing the chips through a body of liquid, pretcrably water. ,These chips consist of edgings, trimmings and other saw mill refuse all of which has preterablybeen converted into hog chips at the saw mill. The water into which the chips are deposited or dropped is caused to tlow in such a direction that it tends to buoy up the chips. This is necessaryun the treat nent of ordinary saw mill re'i'use due to the fact the-ta large portion to the bottom, together with the foreign par Y ticles. This condition of the chips renders it impossible to separate the foreign particles by attempting to float the chips on the surface ofa quiescent body of water. This invention is particularly adapted to treat material of this nature, for provision is made whereby the separating liquid is caused to flow in such a direction and with such a velocity that it buoys up all the wood chips whlle permitting the solid foreign objects to settle. I

In carrying out my improved process, I

prefer to deposit the chips in a receptacle in' any suitable manner, as by dropping them nto the receptacle. Water is introduced into the bottom of thereceptacle which is arranged so that the water flows in an u ward direction, thus tending to buoy i1 t e chips. I preferably employ a means w ereby-the velocity of the water may be regulated w the desired'value depending upon the. nature of" the material be W treated. The velocity should be high enoiilg li to buo up all the particles which are to be utilize while at the same time, permitting the 'foreign particles to settle to the'bottom of the receptacle.

The chips which have been drop ed into the receptacle have a tendency to lo lge near semi-solid mass. W hen this occurs, experience has shown that some of the foreign particles are supported b the mass oi? chips and therefore prevented roin settling to the bottom of the receptacle. It is, therefore, advisable to provide a means whereby, all of the chi s may be forced under the surface oittlie liquid, and this is preferably done in such a manner that the chips are aJitated considerably, whereby the semi-solid l orination is broken up and the hard heavy par ticles are free to settle to the bottom. This forcing of the particles under the surface of the water should be, done by means of a suitable agitating device arranged so that it pokes the chips under the suriiace of water and'pr'eiterably under the lower edge out a liquid beyond the dam and may be dis charged from the receiving vessel at this point. The chips may then be deposited on 'a suitable conveyor or such character that the water drains through the'conveyor and till the surface of the water in a substantially sea ' dam. if the process is carried out inthis manner the chips rise to the surface oi. the

Hill

and other minute particles of hard foreign material.

The improved process and apparatus which constitute the subject matter of this invention may be understood more fully from the following detailed description which is to be considered in conjunction. with the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 is a transverse section of a wood chip treating plant showing one form. of the improved apparatus;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the separating tank or receptacle, and the agitating device associated therewith, and,

Fig. 3 is a vertical section talren on line 33 of Fig. 2 showing the details of con-- struction of the separating tanlr and the agitator.

For the purpose of illustration, the apparatus shown in the accompanying drawings shows theapplication ot the improved meth ed and apparatus to the treatment of wood chips.

By referring to Fig. 1 it may tie noted that the saw mill refuse, which has been converted into hog chips, is blown or otherwise forced through the pipe 1 into a suitable cyclone From the cyclone 2 the chips "fall through a suitable chute 3 intd the separating receptacle or tanlr l. lt may be noted that the upper portion of the tanlr t is divided into two compartments by means'oi a partition or dam 5, and that the chips drop :lrom the chute 3 into one of these compartments. ll/ater or other suitable liquid may be supplied to the bottom of the tank through the pipes. 6, the water being sup plied in manner to be described herein after. A vent or opening 7 is provided in one side of the tank ll at a point opposite to the compartment in which the chips are deposited. llhis opening 7 is preferably made in such a manner that the lower edge thereof The chips 8 which maaevi solid particles of foreign material ..re free to settle to the bottom of the tank a. The agitating device 10 is preferably so arranged that the reciprocating rods 9 force the chips under the lower edge of the dam 5. The flowing water, which has a tendency to buoy up the chips, causes the chips to rise on the other side of the dam 5 until they come to the surface o-t'the liquid. As the water discharges through the opening 7 the washed chips are carried through with it and deposited on a suitable conveyor 11. This conveyor, which is preferably inclined at an angle to the horizontal, is provided with a pin 'ality of openings therein through which the water on the chips may drain into .a suitable drip pan or chute 12. If it is so desired, a suitablepipe 13 having a spray attached to the lower end thereof may be mounted near the conveyor in such a manner that the water issuing from the spray washes the chips a second time for the purpose of removing all particles of sand and other finely divided hard particles.

shown in the drawings, the conveyor ll car ries the chips to an attrition mill l t.

The separat'ng tank, mentioned illNlY'M comprises a water-tight receptacle of ordinary construction (see Fig. 3). The upp xr portion cl this tanlt is divided into two Il1- partments by the partition 5, and the lower part is divided into four COIIIPZlllIl'lQIltS by suitable partitions l5 and 16 which join at the center of the tank. The purpose of the partitions l5 and 16 is to provide a means each compartment allows in a substantially vertical direction without producing any swirls or downward currents tending carry the chips to the bottom of the tank.

If it is so desired, suitable hand holes l7v may be provided near the bottom of the tank for the purpose of affording easy access thereto to remove the foreign particles separated from the chips and which have settled in the bottom of the tank.

The agitating device comprises a plurality of rods 9 slidably mounted on a suitable support 18. These rods are arranged so they pass through the side of the tanlt tend are of such a length that when they are reciprocated they are adapted to force the chips under the surface of the water and under the lower edge or" the dam Each of the rods 9 is provided near the upper end thereof with rack teeth 19 which are adapted to be engaged by a suitable toothed sector 20. The sector 20 is pivoted on a suitable support, i'or example, the shaft 21 which may be iournaled on the side of the tanlt A cam shaft 22 having a plurality oi cams 23 mountedthereon is provided, this shalt llO till

springs 24 or other suitable means.

being arranged in close proximity to the sectors whereby the cams may actuate the sectors for the purpose of reciprocating the rods-t). The sectors 20 may be held in contact with the cams 23 by means of tension The cams may be timed so that the rods 9 reciprocate in any desired manner. For example, it six rods are used as shown in the drawings, the cams may be spaced 30 apartso that the rods reach their extreme positions at different times.

The cam shaft 22 may be driven by any suitable means, such as the belt 25 .(see Fig. 1) which is driven by a main drive shaft 26. The conveyor 11 and the attrition mill 14 may also be driven by the drive shaft 26 by means of suitable belts or chains 27. v

The water circulating system comprises a suitable storage tank 28 which is preferably located at a point below the level of the bottom of the separating tank 4, for example, below the floor 29 of the treating plant. Water may be supplied to this tank through thepipe 30 which is provided with a suitable valve 31. \Vater may be pumped from the tank through a suitable filter 32- by means of a. pump 33. As shown in the drawings, a priming pipe 34 may be provided for priming the lpump 33, and a. drain pipe 36 for draining the tank 28 and the pump 33, the passage of water into the drain pipe being controlled by suitable valves and 37. The water-which is pumped from the tank 28 passes through a suitable control valve 38 into the bottom of the tank 4 through the pipes 6. The water which passes out of the tank l over the spillway 39, and the water which drains from the chips on the conveyor is returned to the tank 28 by the pan or chute 12.

From the above description it should be apparent that the improved process comprises a means whereby wood chips or other similar material may be treated in such a manner that all hard -foreign particles of a substantially higher specific gravity than the material under treatment may becompletely separated therefrom, Generally speaking, this improved process consists in passing the material to be treated through a body of liquid, the liquid being caused to flow in such a direction and with such a velocity that the material under treatment is lmoycd up while the foreign particles are permitted to settle. This process may be carried out by means of the apparatus hereinbelore described. The water is introduced into the tank 4: in such a manner that it flowsin an urnvard direction, thereby'buoy ing up the chips which are being treated. The velocity of the water may be positively controlled by nieans of the control valve and an'eflicient agitating device is protitled for thoroughly agitating the chips and forcing them under the surface of the water are free to settle to the bottom of the receptacle. I

It is to be distinctly understood that while this invention has been described as applied to the treatment of wood chips, yetit is equally applicable to the treatment of any divided material' by means of liquid, especially when the substance to be treated is of the same or substantially the same specific gravity as the liquid used. The improved process is applicable in any case in-wh-ich it is necessary to maintain or support particles near the surface of a liquid, the particles being of such a specific gravity that part of them, at least, would settle in, a quiescent body of the liquid.

Furthermore, it is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the particularembodiments shown and described, for the size, proportions and arrangement of the various parts may be modified without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

' I claim:

1. The process of treating material ofthe type described for the purpose of separating. therefrom foreign objects of a. higher specilic gravity than the material, which consists in depositing the material in a receptacle in in depositing'the material in a receptacle in which a liquid is flowing in an upward direction with such a velocity that the material is buoyed up thereby, agitating the material and forcing all of it under thesurface of the the liquid, continuously discharging the liquid together with the material, and spraying the material discharged from the receptacle. i

3. The process of treating wood chips, part of which are water soaked, for the purpose of separating therefrom foreign objects of higher specific gravity than the chips, which consists in dropping the chips into a receptacle containing water flowing upward through a plurality of inlet pipes in the bottom of the receptacle and out through a discharge port near the top thereof, and simultaneously agitating the chips and forcing them under a partition in the receptacle, the velocity of the water being V" .3 it v chips out throngs the discharge port.

4. In an apparatus of the type described, a receptacle, means for causing a liquid to flow in an upward direction in said receptacle, means for depositing material of the type described in said receptacle, means for continuously agitating said material and forcing it under the surface of said liquid, said receptacle hc ving a discharge port near thetop thereof through which said material and liquid may be continuously discharged.

5'. -An apparatus for treating wood chips, part of which are Water soaked for the purpose of separating therefrom foreign ob ectS of a higher specific gravity than the chips,

comprising a receptacle, means for dropping 7 liquid in the receptacle under the surface of chips into said receptacle, means for supplying water to the bottom of the receptacle and discharging the water through a port near the top of the receptacle, a partition Within said receptacle extending substantially below the edge of the surface of the liquid, an agitating device arranged so that it forces all of the chips under the surface of the Water and under the lower edge of said partition While agitating the chips, and means -for controlling the supply of Water to said receptacle so that the velocity of the water is hi h enough to carry substantially all of the c rips through the discharge port, While.

permitting the foreign objects to settle to the bottom.

6. in an apparatus of the type described, a receptacle, and an agitating device comprising a plurality of rods, a guide bearing Leeaem for each rod, a toothed sector adapted to r engage each of said rods, and means for actuating said sectors to reciprocate said rods said agitating device being arranged so as to force material on the surface of a the liquid and under a partition in said receptacle.

8. in an apparatus of the type described, a receptacle, and an agitating device comprising a plurality of rods each having rack teeth near one end thereof, a guide bearing for each rod, a toothed sector adapted to engage each of said rods, a shaft supporting said sectors and a second shaft carrying a plurality of came for actuating said sectors to reciprocate said rods said agitating device being arra ged so as to force material on the surface of a liquid in the receptacle under the surface of the liquid and under a partition in said receptacle.

In testimonywhereof I atlix my signature.

ADAM ZISKA, JR. 

